Process for making glass plate .



M. .BICHEROUX.

PROCESS FOR MAKING GLASS PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, I914.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

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GERMANY, AS SIGNOR TO BICHEROUX, LAM- BOTTE AND CIE., GESELLSCHAF'I MIT BESCHRANKTER I-IAFTUNG, OF HERZOGEN- BATH, GERMANY.

PROCESS FOR MAKING GLASS PLATES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 141., 1916.

Application filed February 25, 1914. Serial No. 820,838.

To all 2071 am 2'2, may concern Be it known that I, .ll/IAX BIcnnuoUX, a citizen of the German Empire. residing at Herzogenrath, Rheinland, Germanv. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Process for Making Glass Plates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of glass plates and more especially to the casting and flattening out of plates on a pouring table. This is the method generally adopted in the manufacture of raw plate glass which is subsequently to be ground into finished plate glass.

The cast plate is for convenience in manufacture and annealing of considerable area and consequently considerable losses are 1nvolved if a plate cracks on the casting table 1 ately or in the annealing furnace. I have discovered that cracks usually commence or have their origin from the edges of the plate, because the edges are chilled immediafter rolling and become full of fine cracks; also the edges are commonly very irregular.

The present invention consists in a process intended to overcome these ditiiculties and to reduce the liability of the plate to crack.

According to the present invention the chilled and irregular portions of the coherent cast plate located near the edges are cut from the plate immediately after the flattening process, thus. the flattening of the plate and the removal of the edges proceeds simultaneously. The bad portions near the edges are thus removed before the plate has cooled to any appreciable extent.

The invention may be carried outin many ways but the accompanying drawings will serve to illustrate one convenient method of carrying the invention into effect.

In these drawings Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a casting table and its cooperating parts. Fig. 2 is a rearview of the roller and table looking in the direction of the arrow 2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan. Fig. 4: is an enlarged side view of a portion of the roller, and the longitudinal edge cutting device. Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the share in Fig. at. Fig. 6 shows a modified form.

In carrying the invention into effect according to the form shown in Figs. 1 to a casting table aof struction used in the casting of plates for the manufacture of plate glass, is provided. A roller 6 having raised rim portions 0, *igs. 9 and 3, is adapted to be traversed over the table a by means of ropes (Z and a Windlass c. A mass f of molten glass is laid on the table in front of the roller 6 and between the side plates o. On traversing the table a this mass is rolled into a coherent plate of a thickness corresponding to the depth of the rims c, of the roller 6.

In the ordinary method of rolling a plate the edge portions are chilled, cracked, irregular and at times also somewhat thinner than the body of the plate. These edge portions are located at the left hand end in Fig. 1 andalong the longitudinal edges.

According to this invention. cutting mechanism is provided for removing these edge portions. The end portion is removed by a guillotine or like cutter it. This cutter comes into operation immediately the roller 1) has passed the point at which the cutter is located, this'point being chosen in such a position that the bad portions of the plate near the edge are completely removed. The longitudinal edges of the plate are removed by a rotary cutter '21 supported on a trailing frame j which is moved forward with the roller 5 owing to its connection at /c with a spindle on the roller. The edge cutters 2' are arranged at both sides of the table and are pressed into thesoft plastic mass of the plate by weights m. These cutters may he succeeded by wcdges 12 which may be held downward to slide over the table in contact therewith by means of springs 0. The wedges n are dragged behind the cutters '2' by means of bands 1). The wedge is of such aiforrn as to displace the cut edge portion and remove it' completely from contact with the plate proper; thus in Fig. 5 the edge portion 9 is shown flexed awa from the plate proper r. The frame 7' preferably is extended the width of the roller I) so as to insure the parallel cutting of both the rotary cutters 5. After the plate is rolled and has its edges removed as described the roller 6 may rise on anincline 8 whereby the plate the ordinary heavy con- 1' is pushed into the annealing chamber t."

A cutter or guillotine may be provided at u to remove the last irregular portion of the plate, but this is not absolutely necessary as the plate is usually pushed into the an determined by nealing furnace t before the last portion rolled has time to cool to such an extent that the danger of cracking can arise.

In some cases the thickness of the plate is means of a side rail '2) as shown in Fig. (3, which side rail is fixed to the outer longitudinal edges of the table. The roller 10 in such a case isplain throughout and the cutter m is arranged to be dragged behind the roller in a manner similar to that illustrated in Fig. 5. In this case however the wedge is either omitted or if employed, it is of very thin material and only slightly wedged to its rearward side.

I claim:

1. The method of manufacturing plates of glass or the like which consists in laying a heap of molten material flattening the heap into sired thickness and removing irregular and thinner edge portions as flattening process proceeds.

2. The method of manufacturing plates of glass which consists in laying a molten heap of glass on a pouring table, rolling out a flat plate of dethe chilled or the Copies of this patent may be obtained for on a pouring table,-

five cents each, by addressing the a coherent plate from said heap and progressively removing the lateral marginal portions of said plate as the flattening proceeds.

The method of manufacturing plates of glass which consists in laying a molten heap of glass on a pouring table rolling out a coherent plate from said heap and cutting portions from the lateral margins of said plate immediately in the rear of the plate foining roller.

lThe method glass which consists in placing a mass 0 molten glass upon a suitable bed, rolling an integral plate from said mass, and separating from the cooling plate while it is still plastic a strip along each of the plates margins formed by the rolling.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

MAX BICHEROUX.

of manufacturing plate \Vitnesses H1360 E. PRAGER, WVALTER DAEHLER.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

